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Welsh Assembly election

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The boss is back

  • Betsan Powys
  • 25 May 07, 05:35 PM

Yesterday Rhodri Morgan went to the 6th birthday party of one of his grandchildren. He spotted one little boy staring at him intently.

Eventually the little boy plucked up the courage to ask his friend's grand-dad "Are you the boss?"

After the most topsy-turvy three weeks of his political career, the boss elect suggested that maybe he could answer that qusetion 'tomorrow'.

Well tomorrow came and yes, the boss is back.

The man with the busiest Blackberry in Cardiff yesterday lunchtime, the Presiding Officer, was none too pleased that some Lib Dems had been trying to persuade him to call off the plenary session that he had already called. The Standing Order 36 ruse was never used either.

The nomination went ahead and Rhodri Morgan stood up in the chamber to start the process of "reaching out" to the other parties.

If you thought PR stood for Proportional Representation, then you're right of course. But round the Senedd for the past few days it had started to be used for 'Post Rhodri'. Not any more. Not for now at least ... says the woman who's in the middle of filling in the 'media accreditation form' for the Lib Dem Special Conference in Llandrindod tomorrow. As someone said on Radio Wales this morning you know that the centre of gravity of Welsh politics is on the move when all the crucial decisions are made in Llandrindod! If the laptop works, I'll tell you all about it.

By the way yesterday this blog was given a link from the main 91热爆 news page - proof positive that Welsh politics was truly interesting to them (for a day ...) and in the hope that it has managed to attract interest from beyond Wales, I'll sign off with an englyn to Rhodri Morgan by an anonymous, struggling, not entirely unbiased poet.

If you speak Welsh, enjoy it. If you don't, ask and I'll ask someone else to explain!

I Rhodri

Rhodri - mae'n un egniol - a'r enfys
Mor ynfyd yn farwol;
Am nawr, mae o yn ei 么l,
Rhan addas, i un rhinweddol.

Comments   Post your comment

  • 1.
  • At 06:42 PM on 25 May 2007,
  • Frankie wrote:

Perhaps you can tell me Betsan, as I'm rather confused as to what is the point of the Lib-Dems meeting tomorrow and discussing a rainbow coalition? It's too late surely? If they had listened to Mick Bates, they could be now looking forward to having a real voice in Wales, but I'm afraid they are looking like a spent force. What a wasted opportunity.

  • 2.
  • At 11:43 PM on 25 May 2007,
  • Chris wrote:

Bethan: about time you went UK_wide: your blog has been the best bit of this election - and it's still not over. keep up the comments from the front line/the inside.

  • 3.
  • At 02:59 AM on 26 May 2007,
  • JohnCymro wrote:

Gwych Betsan , Cariad.

Mae bob dim yn gwneud synwyr.

  • 4.
  • At 09:10 PM on 26 May 2007,
  • Anotheran wrote:

I notice that Mr Morgan's way of "reaching out" to the "progressive people" in the other parties is...

"Where your manifesto says the same thing as ours, roughly speaking, well, let's move ahead."

Call me a cynic, but that sounds to me like "we'll support you in your polices if they are already our own. If not, then don't come talking to us." Doesn't sound much like a reach to me.

  • 5.
  • At 09:20 PM on 26 May 2007,
  • Anotheran wrote:

One positive point in Rhodri Morgan being returned as First Minister is that there will not now be a forced second election which would have been damaging to the image of Welsh democracy.

He can be removed by the Assembly through a no confidence vote under GOW2006 section 47.2b, and simply replaced by the Assembly nominating someone else under section 46, without triggering a new election. So if the rainbow rises again (out of the rain and sun of the bank holiday weekend) it can have a new First Minister in place within 28 days.

In short, RM being returned as FM gives IWJ, NB and MG more time to get themselves sorted out properly!

  • 6.
  • At 10:19 PM on 26 May 2007,
  • Stephen Roberts wrote:

I can't help but ask - just which party does the presiding officer, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, represent? Already he is making decisions that benefit the Labour Party, against his own party, Plaid Cymru. It's the same as before the elections, when he supported the government when his party colleagues voted against the government. Someone needs to change the logo on his card from Plaid to Labour.

  • 7.
  • At 10:17 PM on 28 May 2007,
  • Chris Jackson wrote:

>>6

In his capacity as Llywydd, he represents no party. The role is similar to that of Speaker in the Commons, in that (to paraphrase William Lenthall) he has neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak except as the Senedd directs him.

Betsan - where have you been and what's your views on the new WAG? (haven't been watching the box lately)

P.S. We'll also have to hear more of your views on the future emergence of the 'Spectrum Arc Government', however, we鈥檒l have to work on the name.

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